The Minish Cap
by ZombiesWillThrive
Summary: Follow Link as he fights to get Zelda back from the evil Vaati. Follows the storyline of 'The Legend of Zelda- The Minish Cap', which is (in my opinion) a very under-rated game in the Zelda franchise.
1. The Picori Festival

**Chapter one.**

**The Picori Festival.**

A_ long long time ago..._

_When the world was on the verge of being swallowed by shadow..._

_The tiny Picori appeared from the sky, bringing the hero of men a sword and a golden light._

_With wisdom and courage, the hero drove out the darkness._

_When peace had been restored, the people enshrined the blade with care._

I stirred to noises downstairs. Yawning, I thought back to the night before; I had been up until the early hours helping my father work, and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow; exhausted from over-exertion. Master Smith is really my grandfather, but I had lived with him for the past fourteen years, so I had got used to calling him my father.  
He called up to me, and I groaned, stretching as I rolled out of bed. Slouching downstairs I heard a familiar voice from the workshop, but struggled to place it through the sleep haze that surrounded me. Probably one of father's associates. I peered around the corner, not wanting to disturb them when I saw Princess Zelda standing there talking to my dad. She turned and smiled, her eyes tracing over my mussed hair as I stood there awkwardly in the doorway.

"Hey Link." My father said, approaching us from behind his workbench. "Princess Zelda is here. She'd like to know if you'd join her at the festival."  
The festival! No wonder my father had been working so much these last few weeks. The Picori festival was held up in Hyrule town, and everyone wanted new weapons to show off with.  
"Yeah, Link. Come on! Let's check out the festival together!" Zelda smiled, bouncing from foot to foot as she waited for my response. "Master Smith already gave me permission to take you!"  
"Yes, after all the festival only comes once a year. Go on, have fun." My father grinned, raising his eyebrows as if challenging me to argue. "And while you're there, you can do me a favour. I just finished making this sword for the minister at Hyrule Castle. I'd like you to deliver it to him."  
I knew there was a catch. At the rate my father was working, I knew he wouldn't let me have fun while there was work to be done. Still, if he was giving me a chance to get out of some work then of course I wasn't going to decline. I held my hand out for the sword and he handed it to me with great care. I knew immediately that I could _not _lose this sword under any means.  
"This is the blade that will be presented to the winner of the competition." He continued, looking at me with great intensity as he explained the dangers that lied between here and Hyrule Town. "Don't lost it. And while the two of you may be childhood friends, remember; Zelda is the princess of Hyrule. You watch over her. Don't let anything bad happen to her." I was about to reassure him that everything would be okay, but Zelda cut me off,  
"Master Smith, quit worrying!" She laughed flippantly, "We'll be perfectly safe. Come on Link! Let's go check out the festival!" She smiled, and ran off to the front room, bouncing as she ran. I went to follow her, but instead rooted around in my fathers chest. I brought out 20 Rupees; enough to cover the costs of the festival hopefully. I left through the front door, flattening my hair as with my palm as I closed the door. Sunlight shone down on me, and I squinted around, searching for Princess Zelda. "Link! Over here!" I heard Zelda shout. She was around the side of the house past our wood pile. I jogged around to greet her, and she giggled, spinning on the spot  
The air was thick with humidity, just as it always was in summer. The trees bristled in the small breeze, and a gorgeous flowery smell wafted in from some place or another. I reached Zelda and she laughed, throwing her arms in the air "Link! Hurry! Let's go!" She cried, laughing as she half skipped, half ran up the road. She stopped again a little ways up, and turned around, beckoning me forward. I laughed under my breath, and continued to jog up to her. "Over here!" She called excitedly, "Come on! Hurry up!" She waved her arms in the air and ran off again. I didn't quite understand why she wanted to go to the festival so much, but I hurried after her again. She stopped outside the entrance to Hyrule Town, and she smiled breathlessly. "Well, here we are!" She smiled happily, looking at me expectantly, "The town of Hyrule." We paused for a moment, before she turned and skipped up into the town.  
My eyes widened when I saw the town; never before had so much festivity been put into a festival, and it looked astounding. Bows had been put on the bell stand, and banners surrounded the stalls, drawing you in. Balloons clung onto plant pots, floating in the air like... well, like balloons. Stalls were set up in center of the square, and shops had been closed for the day. Zelda stopped and turned to me, grinning wildly "Here we are, Link! Doesn't it look fun?" She asked me, but before I could answer she clapped and almost squealed "Come on! Let's look around!" She ran off at full pelt towards a stall surrounded by children. An old man was stood at the stall also, telling a story. The children looked up to him in admiration, clinging to his every word. Zelda turned as I approached, and grabbed my arm, "Link, there's a storyteller here! We should stop and listen to-" She stopped, looking behind her. Something had caught her attention. "Oh! I wonder what's over there..." She glanced back at me, dropped my arm and dashed off towards the bell stand. I followed her, staying true to what father had told me. I would not let anything happen to her. I promised myself that, and I was going to stick to my word. She had ran up to an old man standing by the bell tower. She turn to me almost ecstatic "So the Picori ARE real!" She exclaimed, grinning like a maniac, "My father always told me they were." Zelda said very matter-of-factly as if she was showing off a new dress or something. I was about to ask her more about it, but she was off again, running across to a man standing outside his shop, her pink gown flapping behind her. I walked up behind her, smiling at an odd woman's eccentric dress. Zelda turned to me like she just remembered something. "Say, wasn't there going to be a sword-fighting tournament at the castle?" She asked, eyebrows arched. She was so cute when she did that. I shook those thoughts out of my head as Zelda continued "I wonder who won this year..." She said, looking off into the distance with hazy eyes before something else caught her eye. She smiled, and ran to a stall with a rather large woman ringing a bell. Three green boxes sat in front of her, all with the lids closed. As I got there, she announced with a loud voice "We have a winner!" and she rung her bell for the entire town to hear. "Oh, my!" She said, looking down at Zelda and me, "Princess Zelda! You won the grand prize in our drawing? Wow!" The woman smiled, obviously waiting to tell everyone that Princess Zelda won in _her _prize draw. I rolled my eyes as the woman went on, "You get your choice of any of these wonderful prizes. What will it be?"  
The woman opened up each of the green boxes in turn, revealing a glittering heart-shaped stone, that caught the sunlight and reflected it right into my eyes. It truly was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. In the second box was a magnificent ruby-red gem the size of my head. Through it I could see Zelda's inquisitive face, but she looked nowhere near as awe-struck as me. I guess she saw that kind of thing all the time at home. Then in the third box was a teeny-tiny shield. Zelda's face lit up, and she glanced at me before looking back to the stall vendor.  
"So, which one you like?" said the vendor, looking between me and the princess. "Let me guess..." The woman went on, "The jewel? Oh, but the heart stone is very cute too. Chose whichever one you like!" She finished, smiling down at us sweetly. I gazed at the gem, enthralled by how the light reflected off it.  
Much to my surprise, Zelda did not pick up the gem as I thought she would, but instead cocked her head at the teeny-tiny shield. "The shield is so adorable!" She said in a sing-song voice, "I think I'll take it." Zelda smiled to herself, and went to pick up the shield. The vendor took a step back, "What!? Why? Why would you want that ugly thing!?" She exclaimed, obviously forgetting just who Zelda was. "What about the heart stone?" She went on, "It's cute!" She almost thrust the stone into Zelda's hands, but Zelda was already hugging the shield to her chest defiantly. The vendor went on trying to convince Zelda of the other two prizes, but Zelda simply shook her head, and said "Nope. I want the shield. Can I have it?"  
"What a strange princess you are." Said the vendor, eyebrows furrowed over her little piggy eyes. "Well, OK. You can take it."  
"Here!" Zelda said turning to me, "I want to give you a present!" She grinning widely, and pushed the shield at me. "Doesn't this shield suit you perfectly Link?" She laughed airily, bounced from toe to toe. I accepted the present and looked it over. It was light brown in colour with a golden pattern on the front. It was a little embarrassing carrying a shield so small, but I went through with it anyway, and chuckled for a while as Zelda told me how great I looked. "Now if anything happens, you can protect me with that shield!" She smiled, grabbing my hand and pulling me up towards the main castle. "Come on!" She said, "We need to take Master Smith's sword up to the castle. Let's go Link!" She said, stopping for a second and gesturing for me to take the lead. I started walking up to the castle, and she followed behind me, looking around at the decorations that had been put up around Hyrule. She didn't make a move to drop my hand, which was nice, but as we neared the castle, she slowly started to speed up. The castle itself was grand and gleaming, banners waving in the air from the top-most turrets. Balloons floating mildly in the air, knocking together in multicoloured bunches. Zelda giggled as she looked around but something was off. I couldn't put my finger on it, but something was most definitely wrong about Hyrule castle today. I just wished I knew what it was.

**So that is the first chapter. As you can see it needs a lot of editing (contact me if you want to Beta), but please let me know if this was a good idea, or if I should give it up as a lost cause. I don't know what compelled me to write it, but please don't go easy on me. Let me know if you want to keep reading, or not. Thank you ~ZombiesWillThrive**


	2. The Champion

**Chapter 2**

**The champion.**

_"On a simple yet mysterious night_,  
_The darkness came to me._  
_And when it arrived, it brought hell;  
What the world would come to be._

_It took my life and everything that I knew  
And changed it with a mere glance  
And all I ever hope for, from that night on,  
Was only one more chance."_

Zelda ran ahead at the sight of the castle, weaving in between trees. Damn that girl was excitable. I ran after her, but she had stopped at a line of trees. They were only small, and I didn't see why she hadn't just jumped over, but then she yelped in pain, clutching her hand. I jumped to her, grabbing her in a tight embrace, trying to see what had happened. "That must be the Business Scrub I heard the soldiers talking about." She said somewhat irritably. "They were saying a Deku Scrub had been hassling all the passersby. Link, do something or we can't get to the castle! If only we had some way to defend ourselves against those nuts of his."  
I felt myself getting more and more annoyed. A Deku Scrub had no business even being near Hyrule, let alone hassling people. _And _it had hit Zelda. I drew my shield, and stood in front of the Scrub, ready for the impact. The nut flew through the air and hit my shield. Luckily, the small thing wasn't as weak as it looked, and reflected the nut straight back at the business scrub. He span around, yelping in pain, and a grin spread across my face as Zelda cried out and clapped her hands. I walked up to the Scrub, preparing to push it out of the way so Zelda and I could continue.  
"Please! Forgive me, sir!" It cried out in a high-pitched whiny voice. "I heard there was a festival and I came to town hoping to hawk my wares. Unfortunately, we scrubs have a tendency to spit nuts while we speak! Everyone got scared and ran away, and no one would buy anything!" He pleaded with me, rocking back and forth as he tried to convince me to spare him. He must have seen that I was getting impatient because he shook his head, looking down at the ground, "This is a terrible place to do business! I'm going back to my cave!" He span around once and disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving nothing behind but his spare nuts.  
I swallowed deeply, looking back to Zelda. She was bright eyed again, and not in the least bit ruffled by what happened. She _was _still clutching her right hand though. "Are you okay?" I asked, looking her into her cerulean eyes. She nodded silently, smiling as she looked back at me. I nodded, worrisome, but continued on all the same. A light breeze played with my hair, and ruffled my green tunic, obviously mussing Zelda's hair too by the way she tutted. The castle drew near, and the banners flapped more dangerously in the wind, until one ripped off, fluttering down to land in front of us. I didn't know what it was, but when that banner fell it felt like someone had flicked a switch. From that moment on the world had gone dark. That last banner would be the ending to my peaceful happy life living in South Hyrule Field, and the start of a terrible war had begun.

Zelda knew not of what I had just sensed, and I thought it better to keep her in the dark for now.  
We passed through the main gates, and both guards nodded in turn to me and Zelda. So they had not sensed it either.  
Whilst one side of my brain was chattering on about how the world was going to end, the rational side told it to shut up impatiently. Silence filled my head, letting me hear the sounds of birds tittering away in the treetops. Two long flowerbeds closed us in, the flowers swaying in the light breeze that ruffled my hair so. By the main doors, I spotted an elderly man by the name of Potho. He stood there, looking at the sky in a peculiar fashion, as if he was expecting something to fall from it. Upon our arrival, he snapped back to reality, as if he were in a trance. "Oh! Link!" He exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear as he shrilled out his shaky greeting, "You brought the sword did you?" I nodded, and Potho straightened his back, "Then, as minister to the kingdom of Hyrule, I, Potho, accept this blade."  
It was a very formal acceptance, but all in good manner. I handed over the blade, and Potho took it carefully, turning towards the castle. "You came just in time time." He said, "The award ceremony will begin soon."  
I turned to Zelda, and smiled. She was chewing her bottom lip. "I'm sorry Link, but I'd better go. I have to prepare for the ceremony. I had a good time at the festival. Thank you for coming with me!" She smiled, kissed me lightly on the cheek, and skipped off into the castle airily.

xX~~***~~Xx

Four guards marched outside into the stifling air, carrying a large, red chest. Embedded in the chest was a glowing sword. Shimmering almost; and not just because of the heat.  
"Do you know about that sword Link?" Potho asked, keeping his eyes on the sky like previously this evening. I nod -I had heard a lot about this blade. Master Smith told me numerous fairy tales about it, but never in much detail. Potho was still staring at the sky, so he took the silence for a no.  
"It is called the Picori Blade, and it locks much evil away in that chest. The Picori Blade is sacred among the people of Hyrule." He continued, still gazing up into the sky. "The legend has it that, long ago, the Picori gave us this blade. Whoever wins the competition earns the honour of touching the sacred blade." Potho finished, looking down at last.

At that very moment the king of Hyrule marched down the stairs, beaming like a child learning about the Picori for the first time. Zelda was at his shoulder, and she gave a very discreet wave to Link.  
"Let the award ceremony commence!" the King pronounced, "Vaati, champion of the competition, you may approach the blade!" The King smiled, sweeping his arms towards the bottom of the garden, like he was unveiling a great wonder. Clapping broke out to my left in a strange, off-beat pattern. Potho clapped enthusiastically, like a whole crowd were joining in. He finally subsided, and the King gave him a wide grin, as always.  
A strange man with snow-white hair, and a deep purple cloak strode up to the chest.  
He cackled again, and whispered something inaudible under his breath. Something was not right with this man. The guards must have heard what he said, because they rushed toward him in one big group. But with a simple wave of his hands, the purple-cloaked man sent them flying backwards onto the ground, where they stayed. Nothing went through my head right then except Zelda's safety, and the terrified look on her face, so I charged forward, flinching as I anticipated the blow. And it came hard and fast. It felt like the world had been swept away from me, and I was soaring through the air without a care in the world. But then I hit the ground with a massive thud, knocking all my remaining air out of my lungs.

Everything from that point on was a terrifying blur;

Zelda freezing where she stood, Vaati grabbing the blade in both hands, pulling it free of the chest. The blade shattered into two pieces, and Vaati scowled, flinging the broken blade at a wall, "That's it?" He wailed, before I blacked out, still trying to reach for Zelda, who now stood as still as a statue.


End file.
